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FATAL FIRE AT CHILD-CARE CENTER HAS REPERCUSSIONS ON GUBERNATORIAL, MAYORAL ELECTIONS IN SONORA STATE.

Article Excerpt
A fire in a child-care center, even when it results in numerous fatalities, does not usually have national political repercussions in Mexico. But this is the electoral season, and the fire at the Guarderia ABC in the northwestern city of Hermosillo, which killed dozens of children, has become the subject of a heated political dispute between the administration of Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo and President Felipe Calderon's government. The two sides are engaged in a fierce battle regarding which branch of government has jurisdiction and whether the other side is to blame for the catastrophe. The issue could have a bearing on the July 5 state elections.

Guarderia ABC, housed in a converted warehouse, was privately run under the authority of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS), which oversees the operation of more than 1,500 day-care centers throughout Mexico.

Initial investigations show that the fire in mid-June, which killed 47 children and left scores of others injured, was caused by a short circuit or overheating of the air conditioner in a neighboring warehouse used by the Sonora state government to store tires, license plates, documents, and other items. The state-operated warehouse lacked fire alarms and extinguishers.

In the aftermath of the fire, the Bours administration moved quickly to address the situation by detaining seven officials in charge of warehouse operations. "They are employees and officials with the state finance department who have a direct responsibility for the warehouse where the fire started," Sonora state Attorney General Abel Murrieta said.

But the federal government...